Police uncover suspected drug den and makeshift weapons during Hartlepool raids
Cleveland Police has uncovered drugs and weapons at two properties in Hartlepool during morning raids.
The raids are part of Operation Sycamore, a new monthly day of action to disrupt people committing drugs offences and anti-social behaviour in the town.
Officers searched four properties in the street, seizing heroin, class C drugs and a number of weapons.
A 42-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of possession of a class A drug and a 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of a class C drug.
A third man attended Hartlepool Police Station voluntarily to be questioned by police.
Inspector Adrian Dack told ITV News "In the first address we’ve recovered some controlled drugs. In the second address, we’ve also recovered some prescription medication, which doesn’t belong to the occupants.
"It’s of an amount that we need to bring them in to deal with them in relation to that and also some other controlled drugs, but in both addresses we have recovered some sort of signifiant weapons that they would use to defend themselves. Home made manufactured weapons and also an air weapon from a separate address."
During the raids, officers located makeshift weapons, including wooden table legs with protruding nails, a wooden pole with a serrated blade attached to the end and an air gun.
They also found a suspected drugs den, with paraphernalia, including gram bags, needles and spoons.
Inspector Dack added: "We’ve been in, we’ve had a look. We can’t identify who the owner is, so we’re going to secure and board that one up to sort of try and resolve that issue and that problem."
As part of the operation, other officers attended local schools to educate children on the dangers of drugs and anti-social behaviour and engagement activities on off-road bikes at The Headland in the town.
PCSO Dave Fowler said: "Predominantly in this area, it tends to be more of the motocross bike down towards the beach, cutting through the estate. Other parts of the town, it’s more stolen bikes, little scooters. We get a lot of lads that drive around balaclava’d up.
"The intention today is for residents to see we are taking positive action, we’re trying to do some education work, but at the same time, if we’ve got genuine young lads that are interested in being road legal bikes, it’s to allow them to look at safety equipment."
Watch the report by Kris Jepson.
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